The Earth Trialers
The Earth Trialers are a group of island dwelling monks of the Way of the Four Elements who spend their lives farming, fishing, training, and tuning themselves to the elements. Any who come to the islands in search of training and teaching can be expected to see or experience one of the legendary Trials the order is famous for. Trialers often specialize in one of the four elements, and spend their entire lives tuning themselves to that part of nature. The Earth Trialers camps are split up by element, with four across the island. Fire is at the base of the volcano. Water is a village along the coast. Earth is in the lowland jungle before the mountains begin. Air is in the high mountains. Each location has an ancient temple along with a relatively lowly town for people to live. The Trialers hierarchy is based on who has completed the most trials and survived. The Trial is a sacred function of the order, where the Ki and the Elemental Planes and their essence draw close together. The first Trial a monk participates in has roughly a 90% mortality rate. All trials either end when a task is completed or the trialist perishes, except for certain endurance trials. It is considered an anathema to try to save yourself at the risk of failing a trial. You succeed, or you die trying. The Fire Trials The Volcano # Lava Slinging. ''The trialist must use chunks of semi liquidated lava from the edge of the volcano to throw at targets. The trialist must hit all ten targets, at different locations down the slope.'' # Magma Run. ''The trialist must run across the surface of the volcano's bubbling lava, reaching the other side of the three hundred foot diameter.'' # Heat Endurance. ''The trialist is strung up and hoisted over top of the lava, where massive scolding heat rises in the air. The trialist spends twenty four hours there.'' # Encased. ''Two casings are used to scoop up a sizable amount of liquid lava from the volcano. The lava is allowed to cool for a period of five minutes, before the trialist lays down in one of the casings. The other is lifted over top of him. After a minute, both casings are taken off the now hardened, cooling lava rock. The trialist must escape the encasement.'' The Earth Trials The Lowlands # Seven Day Stand. ''The trialist stands on a flat patch of ground for seven days straight. A failure is any body part except the feet touching the ground.'' # Earth Consumed. ''The trialist consumes an amount of dirt weighing twenty pounds. All twenty pounds must be in the stomach at one time for a success.'' # Mountain Climb. ''The trialist loads a pack with one hundred pounds of rocks and then runs up and back down a mountain of five thousand feet.'' # Buried Alive. ''The trialist is buried alive. They are expected to escape.'' The Water Trials The Ocean # Deep Sea Swim. ''The trialist must swim down to a depth of 1000ft and return alive.'' # A Full Circle. ''The trialist must swim around the entire island.'' # Drowning. ''The trialist drowns themselves and is then returned to land. They succeed if they resuscitate.'' # Fish Catching. ''The trialist must catch three hundred fish within a twenty four hour period. With their bare hands.'' The Air Trials The Tallest Mountain # Fall of Faith. ''The trialist stands on the edge of a cliff and holds their breath until they pass out. '' # Wingsuit Course. ''The trialist dons a wingsuit and jumps off the mountain, embarking on a course expected to take about three hours, with plenty of obstacles including cliff faces, trees, and other aspects of certain death.'' # All Alone. ''The trialist must spend a night naked on the mountain's peak.'' # Forbidden. ''The forbidden trial. None have ever succeeded. This trial involves a four thousand foot cliff dive off the edge of the Tallest Mountain in the the rocky reef below.'' Hierarchy # Spark, Pebble, Drop, Wisp. ''Those who have not completed any trials. They have no power in the monastic society.'' # Flame, Stone, Stream, Breeze. ''Those who have completed one trial. They gain a vote in society and get better jobs. These must also have taken the Way of the Four Elements.'' # Bonfire, Boulder, River, Gust. ''Those who have completed two or three trials. They gain a higher status in society. Often takes about five years of constant practice.'' # Volcano, Mountain, Ocean, Sky. ''Those who have completed all four trials. Takes nearly a lifetime. Gain highest status in society aside from singular leaders. Advisors. Practiced Ki users.'' # Phoenix, Zaratan, Leviathan, Elder Tempest. ''The leaders of each of the four groups. Leaders must have completed the four trials in their group, but often branch out into others to gain a higher count.''